GOAN TEAMS IN FINAL OF EXPAT SOCCER TOURNEY.
Goan Overseas Association (G.O.A.) and Kuwait Goan Association (K.G.A.) both
representatives of India in the Expats South Asian Fooball Tournament
organized in Kuwait by Mounth Everest Sporting Club Katmandu, Kuwait, on
17th of this month playing at Kheitan Stadium entered into the final.
G.O.A. easily outclassed and totally diminished the fake might of S.Y.C Sri
Lanka who came to play not with sporting spirit to entertain the spectators
but to create confusion on the ground not only for the organizers but also
for all who attended the match. G.O.A. had an upper hand of the field and
they dictated the terms to Sri Lankans who could not digest the overall
command G.O.A. had over their Southern brothers. The first goal of G.O.A.
was scored by Dave in the 30th minute from close range while in the second
half their defender Ian increased the tally to 2-0. The 3rd goal was scored
in the middle of this half by substitute and veteran and still going strong
Julio Cardoso who has unique distinction of playing from 1979 when
competitive soccer for Indians at Sour Grounds was initiated by UG. He
started his career for Friends Club of Salmiya as a goalkeeper. In between
Sri Lankan keeper spectacularly saved 2 penalties and their four players
were red carded, 1 in the first half and the rest in the second half. When
their fourth player was red carded, the hell broke and Sri Lankan players
with the consent of their management left the field in protest against
refereesÂ’ decision of handling the game poorly. Good that the referee was a
Kuwait otherwise the situation would turn like clashes between Tamils and
LTT. Poor organizers tried their best to pacify the Lankans but of no use.
Having no other recourse, the referee waited for them to resume the game and
then blew his long whistle.
When the meeting was organized before the starting of this tournament of all
the representatives of participating countries this writer was also invited
by the organisers and unanimous decision was taken to accept the decision of
referee as final. However on Friday Sri Lankans totally forgot to abide by
their earlier decision thereby committing a breach of trust. If they cannot
display the real sporting spirit then in future they should stop
participating in such tournaments where lot of goodwill is generated and
different nationalities are brought closer to one another. By creating ugly
scene at Kheitan Stadium Lankans not only earned bad name for them but bad
name for their country as well. Sri Lankan Ambassador who with such an
enthusiasm and sporting spirit attended the inaugural ceremony should do
something to avoid repetition of such incidents. Good that it is only a tiny
tournament where tiny players are playing and the stakes are not high. Even
for mighty World Cup one does not come across such incidents of rowdism. To
my knowledge only once such an ugly incident took place for World Cup in
Spain in 1982 during the first round between England and Kuwait but better
sense prevailed and Kuwait took the field again, immediately.
This is the second time in the history of Goans in Kuwait that both the
finalists for major expats tournament are Goans, once it was about 25 years
back when both the finalists were Goans only, one G.O.A. and the other was
UG for the Forest of Dean R.A. Trophy at Ahmadi where G.O.A. defeated their
rivals. Will history repeat on coming Friday when G.O.A. faces K.G.A.?
In the second match between Kuwait Goans Association (K.G.A.) and K.L.U.S.
Sri Lanka, the former faced hard time to defeat the latter by 2 – 1. In
this match also the Lankans showed their rudeness towards the end when they
refused to accept the decision of the Kuwaiti referee of allowing the second
goal scored by Vickey after receiving a beautiful pass from Ashton. Defying
this decision of referee Lankans refused to restart the match but gradually
they were made to accept this decision. As a matter of fact Lankans played
from the start a very good soccer but methodical play by K.G.A. outplayed
them. K.G.A. forward Ashton scored their first goal when penalty shot taken
by veteran Philip rebounded into play after hitting the bar, released such a
powerful grounder that Lankan custodian had no chance to stop it.
As matter of interest, both G.O.A. and K.G.A. earlier in the morning played
their scheduled matches at Sour grounds for the tournament organised by Goan
Overseas Association and both the teams came out victorious, G.O.A. defeated
A.V.C. and K.G.A. defeated DHL.
Both the Goan teams G.O.A. & K.G.A. representing India and who will play in
the final on Friday 24th of this month at Kheitan stadium are sponsored by
BENQ.SIEMENS. It was nice on the part of the sponsors to support the
promotion of soccer amongst the expatriates and thereby gain tremendous
goodwill.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
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